Merritt 21-10-2-5 (49 pts)- 2nd in Interior
LAST GAME: 3-1 win over Vernon on Saturday (won 3 in a row, points in 5 straight, and 5 straight road wins)
Vernon 17-16-1-2 (37 pts) - 5th in Interior (3 pts back of 4th and a playoff spot, but Chilliwack has 1 game in hand)
LAST GAME: 3-1 loss to Merritt on Saturday (lost 3 in a row)
Season Series: Merritt 2-0-1-1 (tight season series continues, even though Merritt has gotten points in every game... they've outscored Vernon 11-8, but two of those goals were empty netters)
-Cents are starting their busiest stretch of the season: tonight marks the first game of a 3-game weekend and a 4 game home stand, and it's also the first of 7 games in 10 days (capped off next weekend on the island road trip)
-Merritt is finding their groove again after a month of .500 hockey... they have now won 3 in a row (5 straight on the row), and overall have 9 of a possible 10 pts in their last 5 games.
-Vernon is on the opposite trend having lost 3 in a row and battling for their playoff lives, as we get close to the last third of the season
-while the Centennials have been relatively fortunate with injuries this season (only a few, and none longterm), the Vipers have been the most plagued team by injuries. Captain Patrick McGillis just came back in the last game for the first time in 3 months (and looked like one of Vernon's best players), but that game saw star rookie Adam Tambellini suffer the latest injury. He came back in the game in the 2nd period and will not suit up tonight. But that is not because of is injury. Adam is okay, but he is on a fly-down to the US to check out a scholarship opportunity, so Merritt can hopefully take advantage. Meanwhile it's a pretty significant blow to a desperate Vipers squad, who are already without their big acquisition Ben Gamache, as well as John Knisley and offensive defenseman Luke Juha. The Centennials remain without the services of Sean Maktaak, who suffered a concussion on a hit by Taylor Love last Friday in Salmon Arm (Love received a 2 game suspension for the hit). Maktaak will not play this weekend, but has a chance of coming back Wednesday vs the Warriors.
-the trading deadline has come and gone, and every team in the Interior Conference did something. Most notably, the Penticton Vees (winners of 21 straight) acquired the 4th leading scorer in the league, Wade Murphy, from the Victoria Grizzlies, and now have 6 of the top 7 scorers in the league. The Prince George Spruce Kings (6 points back of Merritt for 2nd with a game in hand) acquired Jarryd Ten Vaanholt who's an elite scorer as well, also from Victoria, and the Chilliwack Chiefs were able to acquire secondary scorer Kody Dhaliwal in a 3-way trade with Salmon and Flin Flon of the SJHL. As for the Centennials, some people are surprised that they didn't do very much. There was one subtraction, and one addition. They sent 19 year old forward Dustin Lebrun (5 goals, 5 assists in 38 games) to Sherwood Park of the AJHL for future considerations, and brought in 20 year old forward Carter Shinkaruk (8 goals, 5 assists in 38 games) from Powell River.
-With the absence of Sean Maktaak on the 3rd line, and the departure of Dustin Lebrun, tonight Shinkaruk will take Lebrun's spot on the 3rd line with Brandon Bruce, and Dylan Chanter remains the rover in the picture as the 7th dman. Last game he scored a goal playing up front on the 3rd line, so Luke Pierce might be inclined to put him in that role once again, beside Brandon Bruce and Carter Shinkaruk.
-The season series has been extremely low scoring so far, with the Centennials averaging a victory of just under 3-2 (empty nets included), and if you look at the last 2 games, Merritt has outscored Vernon 5-1 (with 2 empty netters). So 3-1 makes both teams look very good defensively, and leaves a bit to be desired offensively. Expect another tight-checking, low-scaring contest tonight
-Since the Christmas break ended, the Centennials have struggled putting together a full 60 minutes, but have been coming closer and closer with each game, culminated by a 50 minute effort on Saturday, where they were pinned in their zone and outshot badly in the first 10 minutes, but found their legs after Dylan Chanter opened the scoring at the 12 minute mark. Tonight the goal will be to not have any lulls, and push the limits from the opening faceoff, not allowing the Vipers to generate any life or confidence. Vernon is looking for any excuse to regain their mojo and get on a run, the task for Merritt tonight will be to make sure that doesn't happen. The Vipers are down, the Cents can't allow them to get back up
-Merritt has always been competitive on home ice, but the last few years have been miserable on the road. Now with 5 straight road wins and 11 of 21 wins away from Merritt, tonight the Cents will look to transfer their road success back home to the small confines of the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. With the beginning of a 4 game home stand, this is a great chance to put together a real good run for the Cents and re-establish the "elite" status they had earlier this season. A win tonight would put them 14 points up on Vernon, and give them a 14 point cushion for a playoff spot. Even though the Vipers would still have 2 games in hand, you have to think this gap would be too much to overcome for the Vipers, and the fight for Merritt would become no longer to just "make" the playoffs, but to make sure they secure their 2nd seed.
-Lino Chimienti is slated to get his 4th consecutive start (no goalie has started this many games in a row this season) and 5th straight appearance since coming in relief of Tyler Steel in the first game after the Christmas Break. Luke Pierce has indicated that Lino is playing because of an off-ice situation with Tyler, but he also said that Tyler will get back in goal soon and regain his role in the rotation. With a busy 3-game weekend, I would expect that Tyler will start tomorrow vs Chilliwack, and then they'll go back to Lino Sunday afternoon vs Langley.
-Coach Luke Pierce seems to like what he sees in his juggled lines, so Brayden Low will continue on the 2nd line with Jakob Reichert and Silvan Harper, while Brent Fletcher will continue to center the 4th line with Payton Schaefer and Brendan Lamont (who are coming off 2 of their best games of the season)
-Vernon has backup Danny Todosychuk pencilled in to start tonight, but he was also pencilled as the starter on Saturday, and it turned out to be Kirby Halcrow. Kirby had a great game giving up just 2 goals, so I would expect him to get the start tonight as well.
-The Vipers injuries have forced them to call up former Prince George Spruce King affiliate Eric Chore (has a twin named Patrick Chore) from the North Okanagan Knights of the KIJHL, who has 31 points in 31 games so far(Patrick has 35 points in 25 games). With 7 healthy dmen and a shortage of forwards, defenseman Turner Lawson will once again play up front on the 3rd line (much like Chanter likely will for Merritt, also on the 3rd line). This game will also see the debut of new Viper forward Colton Cyr (14 points in 29 games), who, after spending 4 and a half years in Nanaimo, was moved to the Vipers in a 3 way deal that saw Clayton Chessa go to Nanaimo, and Trail wind up with "future considerations". Cyr will center the 2nd line with Colton Sparrow and Aaron Hadley.
*Make sure you listen to the pre-game show tonight beginning at 7 o'clock, as I will have head coach Luke Pierce talk about the deadline that was, and try and get a chat with newcomer Carter Shinkaruk as well. I will try to post that audio on the blog later on.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams tonight:
MERRITT:
Regan Soquila (93) Chad Brears (91) Evan Stack (91)
Silvan Harper (92) Brayden Low (94) Jakob Reichert (93)
Brandon Bruce (93) Carter Shinkaruk (91)
Payton Schaefer (93) Brent Fletcher (92) Brendan Lamont (94)
Reece Willcox (94) Brandon Pfeil (92)
Richard Sabourin (92) Tyler Martin (93)
Billy Marshall (91) Ross Mancuso (92)
Dylan Chanter (95)
Lino Chimienti (91)
Tyler Steel (93)
SCRATCHES:
Sean Maktaak (92) INJ
VERNON:
Mike Zalewski (92) Darren Nowick (91) Patrick McGillis (91)
Colton Sparrow (93) Colton Cyr (91) Aaron Hadley (93)
Brendan Persley (93) Jedd Soleway (94) Turner Lawson (94)
Riley Hunt (95) Eric Chore (93)- AP
Brett Corkey (92) Max Mowat (93)
Marc Hetnik (92) Geoff Crisfield (93)
Ryan Renz (93) Sean Robertson (91)
Danny Todosychuk (94)
Kirby Halcrow (91)
SCRATCHES:
Luke Juha (93)
John Knisley (92)
Adam Tambellini (94)
Ben Gamache (91)
Opening face-off tonight is at 7:30pm. Pre-game show at 7:00pm on Q101 FM in Merritt or online at Q101.ca
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